Seattle Times Co., Dba the Seattle Times, et al. v. Rhinehart et al.

Decided May 21, 1984. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 82-1721 · 467 U.S. 20 (1984) · Cited 1,798 times

Holding

The protective order issued in this case does not offend the First Amendment.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Herbert v. Lando · 441 U.S. 153 (1979)
• Procunier v. Martinez · 416 U.S. 396 (1974)
• Gannett Co. v. DePasquale · 443 U.S. 368 (1979)
• Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart · 427 U.S. 539 (1976)
• Gumbel v. Pitkin · 124 U.S. 131 (1888)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Sheppard v. Maxwell · 384 U.S. 333 (1966)
• Whalen v. Roe · 429 U.S. 589 (1977)
• California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited · 404 U.S. 508 (1972)
• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• Gulf Oil Co. v. Bernard · 452 U.S. 89 (1981)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• Zemel v. Rusk · 381 U.S. 1 (1965)
• Brown v. Glines · 444 U.S. 348 (1980)
• Oklahoma Publishing Co. v. District Court in & for Oklahoma County · 430 U.S. 308 (1977)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Gentile v. State Bar of Nev. · 501 U.S. 1030 (1991)
• Butterworth v. Smith · 494 U.S. 624 (1990)
• Wayte v. United States · 470 U.S. 598 (1985)
• Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., County of Riverside · 478 U.S. 1 (1986)
• Regan v. Time, Inc. · 468 U.S. 641 (1984)
• United States v. Aguilar · 515 U.S. 593 (1995)
• Bartnicki v. Vopper · 532 U.S. 514 (2001)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1984). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).